


One-Sided Soul

by TheDarkFlygon



Series: Prism (Pride-Themed Oneshots) [8]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Black 2 & White 2 | Pokemon Black 2 & White 2 Versions
Genre: Aromantic Asexual Character, Character Study, Gen, Introspection, Major Original Character(s), Personal Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:59:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24634204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkFlygon/pseuds/TheDarkFlygon
Summary: Do spirits feel attraction the same way confused, usually too busy to think about that question, bedridden teenagers do?
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: Prism (Pride-Themed Oneshots) [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769908
Kudos: 1





	One-Sided Soul

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU inside an AU. AUception. Yeet.  
> Yesterday's prompt, "Spirit", wasn't a big insp in terms of LGBTQ+ themes, so I instead got very spiritual, you could say. *badum tss*  
> This is set in an alternate continuity to regular GCB shenanigans, a timeline that'll be clearer when I'll actually have finished the fic I invented the alt continuity for lmao. For now, I'm sorry for the confusing situation. This means Magdalene is a perfectly normal occurrence and introducing her here when it's 2AM and I really need to go to bed is gonna be hard lmao. Fir more info on her regular GCB appearance, see my other story "Black Maiden", which is also her debut story.  
> The title comes from a Brighter than a Thousand Suns song because I really like it, and it's a part of my unofficial Magdalene playlist.

There are few distractions currently available to him (just as he expected as soon as he was conscious enough to make such a statement), so Cheren’s been asking himself very weird questions for the past few days. Questions that nobody else was ever bored enough to ask.

Well, he’s always asked himself a lot of questions, but it’s only gotten worse, recently.

His head lulls to the side of his pillow again, giving him visuals on the sole other occupant of the room: the well-known face of Magdalene, the Gardevoir he met a month or two ago. He may not have known her for that long (especially when he compares to his childhood friends), and yet he’s gotten close to her faster than for most people he’s ever come across. Maybe it’s because they both didn’t quite know why they were pursuing some goal that had very little sense.

Magdalene isn’t quite like he’d have expected a Pokémon to behave. She communicates with humans speaking _their_ language through telepathic messages and, recently and quite rapidly, learnt to read and write. In fact, she’s more than a human: she’s better than them. They’re afraid because she’s more powerful and because of her unsettling appearance as a half-breed. Her blue eyes really are intense.

_Is something wrong?_ She asks, her inner voice echoing in his skull.

She used to speak in such a robotic way, like an AI trying to learn human language through faulty algorithms. Since then, mostly because she’s been around a lot of humans, from him to his students without forgetting the school staff and Bianca regularly dropping by his place, her telepathy sounds much more natural. Most people would find it eerie, but he’s not so sure about that. He likes having conversations the rest of the world can’t hear.

“Ah, no, I was just… wondering about some things, that’s all.”

His voice still sounds groggy, which he’s almost gotten used to by now. He’d have talked with her with his thoughts as usual, but his condition makes it so he’d rather talk to her directly. He’ll spare himself the additional exhaustion.

_And what’d that be?_

Truth be told, Cheren has been wondering about the dumbest of questions concerning Magdalene. Of course, he’s asked himself about the main ones Bianca or Juniper could have brought up: whether she could Mega-Evolve (she can, they checked), if her telepathy were linked to her Ability (she has Trace, unlike what most would think)…

However, since he’s run out of useful questions to ask and is stuck in bed due to a very unfortunate event, he just started wondering about what Magdalene had that wasn’t human. Surely this superior spirit must be different from them, aside from her appearance and general psychic powers; yet, he still hasn’t found anything that’d fit the bill.

“Did you ever feel… attracted to someone?”

The question is clumsy but, as a teenager having to navigate the struggles of finding himself out when he’s not too busy preparing classes, correcting tests, going through homework, filling forms or being knocked out by his own body, Cheren has had the question on his mind for a couple times in the past month. This week in the hospital isn’t helping.

_Attracted?_

“Well, I don’t know how to describe that…” He stares at the IV inserted into his arm, watching a saline solution dripple down the drain. “You know how I… just stare at Bianca, sometimes, and say nothing while smiling like a fool? That.”

_Oh, I see._

Magdalene doesn’t say anything for a moment. When he sees her like that in his hospital room, she truly looks like she comes from another world, another dimension even. Perhaps it’s a leftover of when they first met, when she was nicknamed “Schoolground Banshee” by his students and when she really looked out of place in their peaceful gardens with her threatening aura and mysterious appearance. Now, she’s far less threatening to anyone involved, leading his class to elect her their mascot under the nickname “Maggie”… and yet, she’s still an intimidating soul to anyone else.

They probably asked her the sort of questions he’s asking her now, albeit differently. Preteens like his students are curious as to who dates who and who’d kiss who and where. Maybe Magdalene is a confused teenager like they are and like he is? It wouldn’t sound too out of place, to his eyes.

_I don’t think I’ve ever felt attraction,_ she eventually replies. _Not the way you have, at least._

“I’d have figured… You can’t be too much like us, right?”

 _Actually, my species feels intense emotions, more powerful than yours._ He can sense a little hesitation in her words, despite her firm and calm tone. _I’m not supposed to feel this… apathetic. I’m not sure if it’s the right word for it._

“I can’t correct you, I’m afraid. Perhaps uninterested?”

_Maybe. I simply have no feelings of any “romantic” nature, if that’s how you humans call it. I’ve yet to understand the other concept that seems to float around in your head…_

Ah, of course. He tends to forget she can easily read through him when she’s a little too curious.

_Is that a weird thing, not to feel attraction?_ She continues to ask, now sounding concerned.

“Well, it’s kind of rare, even among us,” he replies, gathering as much information as he can, “but I don’t think it’s any weird. It sure isn’t a bad thing.”

She smiles a little. It sure is unusual to see something as stoic-looking as a spirit’s incarnate express pleasure, especially at such little words; but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t like seeing Magdalene genuinely happy about something, considering she’s easily intimidated by what she doesn’t know.

_I see. I’ll look into it, then._

“I mean, it’s up to you. I was just curious.”

_I’m curious too, now._

“Actually, I think I know the term people use when they feel the same way you do.”

 _You do?_ Her thoughts are louder.

A knock on the door interrupts Cheren before he can pull out a word he’s seen somewhere before when searching for something else entirely.

“Ah, Leslie is going to enter, that’s too bad… We’ll have to postpone that conversation,” he tells Magdalene as she silently reprises her spot next to his bed, on another chair than the armchair she was sitting on until then.

It’s not that he doesn’t want his assigned nurse to possibly communicate with her; it’s that Nurse Leslie would probably not quite be able to communicate with what she’d perhaps call an “uncanny spirit”.


End file.
